


Everything to lose

by wanderingsmith



Category: The Expendables (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2015-04-05
Packaged: 2018-03-21 09:33:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3687228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanderingsmith/pseuds/wanderingsmith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Whatever Christmas does is *my* responsibility.  You stay the fuck away from him!"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everything to lose

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I ain't got no money, and nobody'd be daft enough to pay me for this. As it is thought, so let it be said; you make the toys, I play with 'em.
> 
> Slight tweak to E3 that's been gathering dust

When he felt the chopper's floor shift as Drummer started lifting off, Lee didn't hesitate. Was on his feet in the shifting chopper, shoving his way through the men in his way without seeing them. His gun out and at Drummer's head by the time he heard Toll shouting over the comm "There he is!"

\--

Drummer felt the barrel of the gun at his neck a second before he saw Barney set foot on the crumbling roof. He turned his head enough to look into the maddened eyes of a killer. He didn't really need the shout in his ear to know. 

"PICK HIM UP OR *I* WILL!"

Adrenaline-clarity let him see the man's trigger-finger start to tense the instant the man was done speaking and he knew he'd be dead before his next breath, no matter the fact that it'd sentence Ross *and* the rest of them. Drummer looked away and shifted the stick to go back down. The gun never wavered as he gritted his teeth and flew just above the roof, aware of a rope dragging on the ground, begging to catch on debris and kill them all, to the sound of the shouts of encouragement over the comm. 

And then he felt the extra weight hit the chopper and he swore, scrambling to lift them up as cheers broke out. The rotors whined when the explosion cloud overtook them before he could get altitude, dust getting in the damn gears, and the gun finally left and he had even more fucking weight-shifts to compensate for.

\--

Barney was never so glad to see Gunner's face creased in a crazy smile as when the Swede reached down and grabbed Barney's vest and effortlessly dragged him the last couple feet aboard, Toll besides him still holding the rope they'd pulled him up with.

It wasn't until he'd caught his breath that he looked up again and saw Christmas crouching besides him. Looking grim but offering him a hand up. "Want to sit? Your legs're taking up room, boss."

\--

"Your man is nuts, Barney. You need to put a leash on him."

Barney winced, wondering what he'd missed *this* time but too fucking tired after their little assault on the compound to bother with anything more than what he knew was practically a whine as he finally got his boots off in the safehouse's mudroom. He needed to soak in a hot tub for a week; not that he was going to get to anytime soon. "I know Gunner can be a little rough-"

"Not *him*. Christmas."

For too many seconds, Barney froze, staring at the man to see if he was somehow joking. When he realized he wasn't, was actually deadly serious and faintly threatening, Barney straightened and took a step forward before forcing himself to stop, hands fisted, snarling low, "You stay the fuck away from Lee!" What the fuck had happened to Lee??

"He had a gun to my head, Ross. I *don't* appreciate that!"

"Gun..." Barney shook his head to clear it of the crazy thought. Instead, he glared, "What the fuck did you-" That was when he remembered that Lee hadn't been the one to pull him up. Hadn't been at the door as he was dragged in. He stared measuringly at the old pilot and thought back to the way things had gone done.

"You were taking off."

Drummer's chin rose stubbornly, "Yes. I had a chopper-full of lives depending on me-"

Barney waved him off, "Save it. I'd have been pissed if you'd left me but I can get why." He shrugged, giving the CIA bastard a hard look, "If you'd tried to leave one of my men I'd have held a gun to your head myself. Whatever Christmas does is *my* responsibility. You stay the fuck away from him."


End file.
